


At Summer's End

by Dream_Wreaver



Series: The Change of Seasons [2]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Implied Angst, MIA parents, MomGwen, Other, dadvid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 18:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12086607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dream_Wreaver/pseuds/Dream_Wreaver
Summary: Sequel to Solstice Sunset. What happens when it's time for the campers to go home? What will one camper do when the season has one final blow left to deal him?





	At Summer's End

David was always of the mind that feeling sad wasn’t something you should spend too much time on. Not when there were so many things in the world to be happy about. But then, that was him. As he told Max he liked to look on the brighter side, and he liked it more if he could get other people to do the same. But sometimes, the issues, the wounds of a person’s psyche ran far too deep for that to work. And it shouldn’t, from the moment he had learned that Max’s parents didn’t even care enough to choose an activity to sign him up for David had lightened considerably on getting Max to enjoy his summer the traditional Camp Campbell way. He put more thought into things Max might like, and so far all he had come up with was that Max liked running away and going into town.

At first they thought it would be impossible. With Campbell in jail there was no one taking ownership of the camp and thus the camp by all legal laws they were aware of, couldn’t operate without an owner. For whatever reason though, Erid had not only gone to the trouble of, but also managed to convince her fathers not to shut the place down on them. But for all except Max, everyone’s activities were accounted for. So then, it was more or less a free-for-all, with each day of camp theme being decided by vote. Still, secretly David and Gwen tried to include activities that would appeal to their little problem child.

There were impromptu games of capture the flag and (which Max seemed to like better) hunter. He loved being able to hide out in the woods at night, or hunt those who were hiding. Or sometimes he did neither of those, but Gwen and David allowed him instead to scare the crap out of the other campers. If it was able to bring a smile to his face, they stopped caring so long as it didn’t physically hurt anyone or leave lasting psychological damage. It was a balancing act easier said than done, but to them it was worth it to put the light of childhood optimism and happiness back in his eyes.

But summer, just as all things, eventually came to an end. The last day at Camp Campbell was upon them, and everyone had packed up. And yet, it just wouldn’t be a day at Camp Campbell if there wasn’t some snag, mixup, or some other type of wacky hijinks which threw a wrench into things. Gwen had been in charge of contacting all the camper’s parents, reminding them that the summer was ending and that the bus would be dropping them off where it had picked them all up as well ask trying to seek confirmation that the parents would indeed be there to pick up their offspring. But while everyone else’s parents, even Nurf’s, had responded, there was one camper whose sires had not.

“Do we really want to put him through this?” Gwen asked David with a worried look in her eye, “I mean, after the Parent’s Day fiasco, I don’t trust his parents to be there, and I don’t want him to have to face it. They haven’t responded to any of the contact info they left on the sheet. I don’t want to make him cry again.”

“Gwen,” David shook his head with a sigh and a conflicted expression, “We have to uphold the rules. All campers come in on the bus, all campers leave on the bus.”

“Fuck the rules!” Gwen shouted, then immediately quieted herself. A few of the kids looked in their direction because of the outburst, but they didn’t enquire further.

In a hiss of a whisper Gwen continued, “Max may be a little shit but he doesn’t deserve seeing how little his parents care about him twice in one summer. Sure, he may know it but I’m not about to deal a blow like we did on Parent’s Day. David, it’s just not right.”

“Gwen, what else can we do?” David asked her, “We don’t have enough information about his home life to report anything, and I doubt Max will tell us. And the parents could sue if we try to keep their child away from them. With Mr. Campbell already in prison it would fall on us, do you really have the money to fight this in court?”

“But I have the receipts and phone logs for every time I tried to contact them,” Gwen said, “Isn’t that enough?”

“Not unless there’s a history of this, which falls to Max,” David countered, “And unless he’s willing to provide a full account to the police… besides, as much as I _want_ to help him, will it be any better for him to be in the system? You don’t have the stability to raise him, and I doubt he trusts, or even _likes_ me enough to try.”

Gwen looked back to the group of campers, lining up to board the bus Quartermaster had pulled into the grounds. She looked to David again, and bit her lip. David sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, “I’ll come too,” he said, answering the unspoken request, “At least he’ll have a support system if the worst happens.”

“I think you mean _when,”_ Gwen muttered under her breath. But she herded the kids on the bus, tilting her head for David to follow.

CC

The city where most of the kids had been picked up from was every bit as dirty and dingy as David remembered the first time he had been on pickup duty. He vastly preferred the woodlands, and -for some modicum of civilization- the rural suburbs. But the parents were all here, every one he remembered from Parent’s Day. He watched as one by one or in small groups the parents took their children home. And just as Gwen predicted, Max was soon the only one left.

“Don’t worry,” David put on a happy face -a more fake one than he was used to, for Max- “It’s still early in the day. Why don’t you go wait on the bus with Quartermaster? Gwen and I’ll keep an eye out okay?”

With a flat, jaded stare that spoke of similar events happening too many times to count Max nodded and went back on the bus. As he turned the counselors noticed that his hoodie front was bulging. Max had probably stuffed Mr. Honeynuts in there, and it spoke just as many volumes as his eyes had. The day passed, each minute seeming like an hour, each hour seeming like a day. And only two had passed since the drop off time.

Gwen bit her lip as she checked the clock on her phone for approximately the fifth time that hour and the hundredth time since all the other parents had left, “What do we do David? There's no home address listed on his paperwork, and we have a schedule we need to keep to as well. We can’t leave him with the police, and we can’t take him back with us.”

From his height David saw that Max had curled up into a little ball towards the back of the bus, far from the Quartermaster’s eye. He looked lost, and hopeless, and broken. David never thought he'd see the day Max would break, the boy was just too stubborn and strong-willed. Jaw set the counselor made a decision then and there, “The heck we can’t,”

“You’re not seriously saying-”

“Try getting in touch with his parents a few more times. If another half hour goes by and we hear nothing, he comes back with us.”

“And what are we supposed to do after _that_?” Gwen looked at him long and hard.

“We’ll figured it out,” David sighed, “Look, I know you wanted to get back to the job hunt, but- wait,” he paused, “Do you have a passport?”

Gwen blinked at him, confused by the sudden direction the conversation had taken, “I do, why?”

“Do you have it with you?”

“No…” Gwen drawled out, and then she remembered it. David was part Canadian, he had dual citizenship and could cross easily. With her passport, so could Gwen. the only problem was Max, “David it’s illegal to cross the border with a child that’s not ours! They could peg us for _kidnapping_ for God’s sake!”

“Look, Max implied his parents were immigrants,” David said quickly, “Maybe they got Max a passport, and with any luck Max has it with him. Technically, until his parents come to pick him up we’re legally still his guardians.”

“I seriously doubt we’d be able to make it to the border,” Gwen parried in her cynical manner.

“We have to try,” David argued, “Give me your phone, I’ll try and get ahold of Max’s parents one more time, you try and see if he has means to cross the border. We'll get going and if they call back they call back, but if not..." David didn't want to think about the option that was slowly becoming more of a possibility, for Max's sake, "We'll go visiting, not anything long-term. Think of it as a well-earned vacation, okay?”

“This is insane,” Gwen deadpanned, “You’re insane.”

“Maybe,” David agreed as he took the phone from her, “But I can’t think of anything else right now. If you can, let me know.”

“I-” Gwen raised a finger to protest, but having no better alternative the words did not come out. She went aboard the bus and while the phone rang David could hear the muffled conversation and see the body language of the two as they talked. He could see when Gwen asked, as he saw Max raise a brow but rummage around in one of his bags until he pulled out the tiny blue book that was their ticket out of here. Once again, the call went to voicemail. And David left a message.

CC

The city where they had picked up most of the children was relatively close to where Gwen lived. After convincing Quartermaster to make a quick trip over there, allowing Gwen to snag her passport and a few other essentials, they returned to Camp Campbell where all of David’s stuff remained. In just ten minutes he was packed and ready to go. Normally, part of the end of camp would mean packing all the things away for use next year, but since in all likelihood the camp would be closing David for once wasn’t worried about it.

Gwen had gone to her room to stuff the other items from home into the suitcase she had brought there and making it all fit. Max had been left under the care of QM and was mostly just wandering around listlessly. With a bittersweet feeling David cast one last look around his former room, knowing it was likely the last time he’d ever see it.

Returning to the campgrounds he saw Max and QM but not Gwen. Maybe she was still trying to fit everything together in the one bag she had brought. But when he went to check on her he saw her, sitting in the middle of her bed, phone in hand atop the comforter and a blank aura coming off her. Even as David stepped into the room she didn’t give off any sort of response. That concerned him, normally Gwen was one to at the very least incline her head, acknowledging his presence if she was otherwise occupied. Something was definitely wrong.

“Gwen?” he asked, voice small and weak in the oppressive silence of the room. Still nothing.

He moved closer, sat on the bed, put a hand on her shoulder. It was then she looked up. Tears were welled, fat and heavy in her eyes. Recognizing him one spilled forth and she leaned into him, silently sobbing onto his shirt. He had only seen her like this when she was worried he’d be mad at her for trying to find a new job. Curious but also uncaring of what had caused her distress he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back in comforting circles. Even though she was upset she seemed to be stifling her sadness to be inaudible. David wondered why, but knew it wasn’t as important to ask questions as it was to simply be there for her.

After some time her hushed hiccups slowed to a stop. Gently as he could David pushed Gwen back by the shoulders, silently asking her what was wrong. The tears threatened to pour again, but soundlessly she lifted her hand and showed him her phone. The screen showed the voicemail section, and a poorly, almost unreadable transcription of whatever message had been left. David took the phone and hit play. And when it was done, everything made sense. The only thing left to do now was figure out how to explain it to Max.

**Author's Note:**

> So that took an unexpected angsty turn. Resolution will come... in the form of part 3 which will hopefully come out soon ish. Maybe, probably... I'm not sure. Hope you liked it anyways.


End file.
